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Saturday, July 25, 2015

Asia Bibi Gets Execution Stay - Now Push for Political Asylum

Asia Bibi is a Pakistani-Christian gal who has rotted in a Pakistani prison for about SIX years under threat of a death sentence under the Islamic republic’s Blasphemy Law which is derived from Sharia Law. In October 2014 Pakistan’s highest court upheld her death sentence which seemingly sealed her fate to be hung until she was dead; however the court did not stipulate an execution date.

I like the Christian Post rendition. Mo was a thug that raped, pillaged, executed those who dared stand against him to set an example on how a Muslim can live off the conquered while brainwashing the conquered to convert to Islam to lead a life acceptable to Islam.

To her neighbors, Aasiya Noreen “Asia” Bibi, a poor mother of five in the tiny village of Ittan Wali in central Pakistan, was guilty — guilty of being Christian in a nation that is 97% Muslim. For four years she has languished in a prison cell for this, facing death by hanging.

Her new memoir, “Blasphemy,” was dictated to her husband from jail, who relayed it to French journalist Anne-Isabelle Tollet. Fifty percent of the proceeds the book will go to support Bibi and her family. Tollet says the situation is dire.

Embarrassed by Bibi’s case but still refusing to release her because of angry protests by extremists, the Pakistan government has transferred her to a more remote prison, hoping the 42-year-old dies quietly behind bars, perhaps poisoned by another inmate. Already two government officials who have spoken out on her behalf have been murdered, including Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti, who was killed by the Taliban. In this excerpt, Bibi explains the simple “transgression” that led to her plight.

[Blog Editor: below is an excerpt from Bibi’s memoir]

But though I’m kept in a tiny, windowless cell, I want my voice and my anger to be heard. I want the whole world to know that I’m going to be hanged for helping my neighbor. I’m guilty of having shown someone sympathy. What did I do wrong? I drank water from a well belonging to Muslim women, using “their” cup, in the burning heat of the midday sun.

I, Asia Bibi, have been sentenced to death because I was thirsty. I’m a prisoner because I used the same cup as those Muslim women, because water served by a Christian woman was regarded as unclean by my stupid fellow fruit-pickers.

That day, June 14, 2009, is imprinted on my memory. I can still see every detail.

That morning I got up earlier than usual, to take part in the big falsa-berry harvest. I’d been told about it by Farah, our lovely local shopkeeper. “Why don’t you go falsa picking tomorrow in that field just outside the village? You know the one; it belongs to the Nadeems, the rich family who live in Lahore. The pay is 250 rupees.”

Because it was Sunday, my husband Ashiq wasn’t working in the brickworks. While I was getting ready to go to work he was still fast asleep in the big family bed with two of our daughters, who were also worn out after a long week at school. I looked at them with love before I left the room, and thanked God for giving me such a wonderful family.

When I got to the field, around 15 women were already at work, picking away, their backs hidden by the tall bushes. It was going to be a physically exhausting day in such heat, but I needed those 250 rupees.

… Musarat wasn’t really an agricultural worker and I didn’t often see her in the fields, so I realized times must be hard for her family. In the end, it was just our lot to be poor, all of us.

A hard-faced woman dressed in clothes that had been mended many times came over to me with an old yellow bowl.

“If you fill the bowl you get 250 rupees,” she said without really looking at me.

I looked at the huge bowl and thought I would never finish before sunset. Looking at the other women’s bowls, I also realized mine was much bigger. They were reminding me that I’m a Christian.

The sun was beating down, and by midday it was like working in an oven. …

But since the river was nowhere near, I freed myself from my bushes and walked over to the nearby well. Already I could sense the coolness rising up from the depths.

I pull up a bucketful of water and dip in the old metal cup resting on the side of the well. The cool water is all I can think of. I gulp it down and I feel better; I pull myself together.

Then I start to hear muttering. I pay no attention and fill the cup again, this time holding it out to a woman next to me who looks like she’s in pain. She smiles and reaches out . . . At exactly the moment Musarat pokes her ferrety nose out from the bush, her eyes full of hate:

“Don’t drink that water, it’s haram!”

Musarat addresses all the pickers, who have suddenly stopped work at the sound of the word “haram,” the Islamic term for anything forbidden by God.

“Listen, all of you, this Christian has dirtied the water in the well by drinking from our cup and dipping it back several times. Now the water is unclean and we can’t drink it! Because of her!”

It’s so unfair that for once I decide to defend myself and stand up to the old witch.

“I think Jesus would see if differently from Mohammed.”

Musarat is furious. “How dare you think for the Prophet, you filthy animal!”

… READ ENTIRETY (Sentenced to death for a sip of water; NY Post; 8/25/13 4:00am)

Here’s an excerpt from Bibi’s husband Ashiq Masih posted by the NY Times roughly a month after Pakistan’s high court upheld Bibi’s execution sentence by hanging (cross posted at SlantRight 2.0):

Yesterday, I returned from the prison in Multan where my wife, Asia Bibi, was transferred eight months ago. Since Asia was sentenced to death in November 2010 for drinking a glass of water from our village well, my family has lived in constant fear and under death threats. I live in hiding with my five children as near as possible to Asia. She needs us very much to help keep her alive, to bring her medicine and good food when she is sick.

…

My five children and I have only survived thanks to the protection of a few faithful friends who risk their lives daily to help us. We are the husband and family of Asia Bibi and many people want us to die. Thanks to our friend Anne-Isabelle Tollet, who has become our sister and helped us for four years now, we speak often about what is happening in Paris and the world to help save Asia. Hearing that people are supporting Asia from so far away is so important for us. It helps us to hold on. Every time I visit Asia in prison I tell her the news. Sometimes it gives her the courage to keep going.

Just before taking the ten-hour journey to visit Asia, I learned the wonderful news that Paris is offering to welcome Asia and our family to Paris if she is freed. This is a huge honor and we are very humbled. …

When I visited Asia Bibi yesterday she asked me to give you this message:

“My prison cell has no windows and day and night are the same to me, but if I am still holding on today it is thanks to everyone who is trying to help me. When my husbnd (sic) showed me the photographs of people I have never met drinking a glass of water for me, my heart overflowed. Ashiq told me that the city of Paris is offering to welcome our family. I send my deepest thanks to you Madam Mayor, and to all the kind people of Paris and across the world. You are my only hope of staying alive in this dungeon, so please don’t abandon me. I did not commit blasphemy.”

A BBC story in February 2015 is another snapshot of Blasphemy Law exploitation by Muslims. Asia’s was cruelly accused by a prejudiced Muslim woman and Asia’s family has lived in fear of their lives since the 2009 accusation and the original 2010 death sentence. Here is the Youtube version of the BBC video news piece from February 2015:

Here is the Sharia Unveiled post that first alerted me that at the very least Asia Bibi had a stay of execution by hanging. NOW let’s get her released and have her family find asylum in a Western nation. According to Ashiq Masih France has stepped up to the political asylum plate, but there should be a host of Western nations including the land of the free and home of the brave – USA.

LAHORE, Pakistan: Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the execution of a minorityChristian womanover blasphemy as it admitted her plea challenging the conviction, in a case that sparked international outrage over the controversial law.

A three-member panel of judges heard the case in Supreme Court’s Lahore registry and admitted Asia Bibi’s petition for full hearing after initial arguments by her defence lawyer besides staying her execution till the matter is adjudicated.

Bibi, a mother of five, had a quarrel over a bowl of water with fellow Muslim women while working on a crop field in Punjab province.

She was accused of uttering blasphemous words in the heat of arguments, which she denied.

Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five, sentenced to death on accusation of blasphemy, waiting for her appeal in Lahore High court against death sentence in Seikhupura District jail in Punjab province of Pakistan, is scared in her high security jail cell" said Zeba Gill, President of PCA in an exclusive interview.

Zeba Gill, President of Pakistani Christians Association in USA with its headquarters in New York, was visiting Pakistan in month of March 2012, where she met Asia Bibi in Seikhpupura District jail …

Bibi was arrested in 2009 for allegedly passing the blasphemous remarks and convicted in 2010. Her death sentence was maintained by the Lahore High Court in October last year which she challenged in the Supreme Court.

No date had been set for the execution.

Bibi’s death sentence had sparked outrage among international human rights groups, which condemned Pakistan’s blasphemy law as a source of persecution against religious minorities.

Blasphemy laws were introduced by military rulers Zia-ul- Haq in 1980s and people accused under the laws are also targeted by extremists.

When governor of Punjab province Salman Taseer criticised these laws in a meeting with Bibi after her first conviction, he first faced immense criticism from extremists and was later killed by his police guard in 2011.

Pakistan Supreme Court: Stay of Execution Issued for Christian Mother of 5 Children Sentenced to Death for Bogus ‘Blasphemy’ Charge

Sharia Unveiled – The Truth

This site is dedicated to pulling back the veil that enshrouds the truth about islam and sharia law. There is an evil core beneath the doctrine of al-Qur’an & al-Hadith and we will illuminate that darkness, as well as the minds of those who seek the truth.

Islam is a perversion of the truth. It is a cult of indoctrination. It is a method of spiritual enslavement and physical subjugation. We do not speak against islam, but rather we allow islam to speak for itself:

Islam and sharia law teach, preach and carry out the following acts:

– In accordance with the surahs of al-qur’an and teachings of al-hadith

1. STONING: Burying women in the ground, up to their chest and stoning them to death.